This blog started off by focussing on NZ's smaller 3rd level airlines, past and present. It has evolved to trying to present some record of NZ's domestic airline operations and some of the larger charter operators, interesting NZ international airliner movements and photos I have taken around the country. Comments, corrections or contributions are welcome, Steve - westland831@gmail.com

05 March 2013

Hokitika Airport Development

Hokitika Airport Ltd is set to begin work to lengthen the
runway some time after mid-March, in order to allow larger aircraft, including
international charter flights from Australia, to land in Hokitika. New Zealand aviation
regulations require an extra 240m of runway to allow larger planes to land at
Hokitika. Every runway requires
240m at the end, called the runway end safety area (or RESA), and at Hokitika
the aviation authorities have allocated 240m at the end of the airport’s
existing 1320m sealed runway as RESA. By extending the
runway with gravel the extra distance required, the airport will be allowed to
utilise the full length of the existing runway, thereby allowing for larger
planes to land, without having to seal. The airport company
must also fill in the small gully at the start of the extension area with about
45,000 cubic metres of gravel, which will be compacted and prepared for the
extension. Hokitika Airport
chairman Bruce Smith said the company would spend $400,000 over the next few years
to complete the work, the funds coming solely from the company’s own operating
surplus. The car park
extension would be completed before starting the new project. “We’re working on
increasing our car park and we’re just awaiting sealing. You can’t put on seal
in the height of summer or at the height of winter.” A simple runway
extension would mean a much larger increase of incoming passengers to Hokitika,
he said. “If you haven’t got
the RESA they take an extra 240m off your existing runway and they call it
RESA. But with the extension, one of our operators will be able to bring 115
passengers at a time rather than three.” Mr Smith was quick to
allay fears that the airport company had lofty ambitions. “We’re not looking to
be an international airport, we’re looking at international charter flights.”

The FAA defines a runway end safety area (RESA) "the surface surrounding the runway prepared or suitable for reducing the risk of damage to airplanes in the event of an undershoot, overshoot, or excursion from the runway." Am I correct in thinking that given the extension planned at Hokitika is at only at the northern end of the airport it will only be effective for aircraft landing and taking off in northerly conditions?